Unfortunately, in today's society, items get stolen all the time. Surprisingly, a common problem is the theft of garden hoses and other water carrying pipes that are left unattended for certain periods of time. This has become a reoccurring problem at many golf courses, apartment complexes, public parks and not to mention residential homes. In an effort to minimize and prevent the theft of garden hoses and other water carrying pipes, golf courses, apartment complexes and public parks have taken steps to install underground sprinkler systems. However, for individual homeowners, an underground sprinkler or irrigation system is too expensive or too difficult to install to consider as an option. This is not desirable.
Various attempts have been made to solve problems found in locking mechanism art. Among these are found in: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,803,858; 5,193,366; and 4,793,376. These prior art references are representative of locking mechanisms.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the invention as claimed. Thus, a need exists for a reliable locking mechanism that may be secured to the ground and prevent theft of garden hoses, and to avoid the above-mentioned problems.